A youth leader of the deregistered Parti Bansa Dayak Sarawak (PBDS) said today that the better option for the party-less elected representatives of the party is to place them under the direct Barisan Nasional membership rather than to 'park' them temporarily with other component parties

The party's deputy youth chief Anthony Nais said in a statement that until PBDS is allowed to exhaust all available avenues to resuscitate the party, direct BN membership is the better option.

PBDS was de-registered on Friday last week following a protracted leadership dispute. Its leaders are appealing to the Home Minister.

The state BN leadership has offered to temporarily accommodate the party's 14 elected representatives. Nine have already agreed and are waiting for Chief Minister Abdul Taib Mahmud to decide where to park them.

The remaining five have not considered that offer, saying they still want to appeal to the home minister and exhaust all legal avenues before deciding on that.

Nais said the State Attorney-General JC. Fong had already said temporary parking was not necessary as the elected representatives were all elected on BN ticket.

Secondly, the present position of the state BN was not in anyway being threatened as it has more than a two-third majority in the state legislative assembly. All but one of the 62 members of the assembly are under the BN.

Precedent set

Arguing that direct BN membership was a better option, Nais said: "Billy Abit (the MP for Ulu Rajang) and Dr James Dawos (the MP for Mambong) were party-less when they were elected BN candidates and they were each given six months to choose which BN component party to join."

"So what is one month or so to wait for PBDS to be given time to exhaust the appeal process regarding its deregistration, particularly when none other than the prime minister has given his assurance that the appeal will be seriously considered?"

Nais said the Dayaks were dismayed, frustrated, annoyed and were experiencing the denial stage by the stunning deregistration of PBDS, a Dayak-based party of 20 years' standing.

"A rush into 'parking' by these PBDS reps gives the impression that they have compromised themselves to cater for their individual interests, abandoning principles, values, heritage and political beliefs upon which PBDS was established in 1983, without giving priority to saving the party."

Nais said the strong feelings of PBDS supporters should not be underestimated and must be tactfully managed or else these intense feelings could easily germinate into a ground swell of discontent among the Dayaks in Sarawak.

"The YBs in consultation with Leo Moggie (former PBDS president and Minister of Energy, Communications and Multimedia) must create time and opportunity for the members to be consulted, updated and a consensus reached on the course of actions to be taken rather than just being pressured to be 'parked' in other parties," he added.

Therefore, he said, PBDS needed to be given an opportunity to respond to the prime minister's call to submit its appeal.